Shanghai to show pride with gay festival

A week-long gay pride festival gets under way in Shanghai this weekend, the first time the city has held an event like it.

There will not be a parade. The organisers took legal advice which suggested that might get them into trouble with the authorities.

Instead, there will be film screenings, talks, an art exhibition and a large, all-day party at a privately-owned venue.

Gay sex was decriminalised in 1997 in China. Before that, people used to be prosecuted under "hooliganism" laws.

Homosexuality was described officially as a mental illness in China until 2001.

Although China is a very conservative society, surveys suggest the majority of the population are reasonably tolerant of gay people.

However, there is intense pressure on young Chinese to get married, so it can be difficult for gay Chinese to be open about their sexuality.

The state-run English newspaper, the China Daily, has in the past suggested that official statistics estimate the number of gay men and women in mainland China to be around 30 million, or just under 3% of the population. It admitted, though, that few are willing to acknowledge their sexuality.

Official suspicions

The two women who head up the team organising Shanghai Pride are both Americans who live have lived in the city for a few years.

The fact that they are both foreigners is perhaps no surprise.

The Chinese government is often suspicious of any large public event, especially anything that might look like a protest or a demand for greater rights.

And yet a few gay venues in Shanghai are not taking part because they do not want to draw too much attention to themselves as gay businesses, Pride's organisers say.

"In the past homosexuals were regarded as bad people," says the lecturer.

"Nowadays no-one thinks they are bad, but they are still considered to be 'alternative'. What's changed is that people think they are alternative, but they believe they should have their own rights, be able to make their own choices."

The two women hope the week-long festival will offer Shanghai's gay population the chance to be a little more visible.

"I'd like people in the city to understand more about gay people," Tiffany says. "That they do exist, that they're welcomed and accepted here."

"A few years ago Shanghai wouldn't have been ready for an event like this," Hannah explains. "But now," she says with a broad smile, "we feel it's the right time."

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